, Cowherd talked about how Malzahn is "going to be a nightmare" for Alabama coach Nick Saban, how to beat the Alabama coach and even made a prediction on next year.

"I think he's going to be a nightmare," Cowherd said of Malzahn. "I am amazed that Alabama fans aren't concerned about Gus Malzahn."

Cowherd's theory is that offensive-minded coaches are the ones that make Saban uncomfortable.

"There's a way to beat Nick Saban," Cowherd explained. "You're not going to outdefend Nick Saban. He's the master. ...

"The people that give Nick trouble, and I've heard this from rival coaches who love Nick, is that Nick - like (Bill) Belichick - has a system. When you can get Nick out of his system, that you have out-of-the-box contrarian thinkers that don't think like Nick thinks, they force Nick in uncomfortable places, to do things with his defense that he normally doesn't have to normally do, he's at his weakest."

He points to Georgia's Mark Richt, LSU's Les Miles, South Carolina's Steve Spurrier, Texas A&M's Kevin Sumlin and Urban Meyer when he was at Florida as examples throughout Saban's career at Alabama.

And, of course, Malzahn.

"Nick is not great off the rails or against unpredictable coaches," Cowherd said. "He has more trouble with quirky than substantial. He'll go toe to toe with substantial. So I think Malzahn is built to give Nick trouble."

Cowherd described Malzahn as the "perfect fit for Auburn," and said he doesn't believe a job like Texas would interest the Auburn coach.

"I think Gus Malzahn is going to be a real headache for Nick."

He also thinks the Iron Bowl will be split fairly even over the next five or six years.

"I want all you Alabama fans, who love Finebaum and hate me, to know," Cowherd said. "Right now, you're driving around and I'm here to tell you that you're going to start to lose to Gus Malzahn.

"Next year, Auburn's going to be better than Alabama. Auburn is going to go into Tuscaloosa and beat Alabama. They're going to beat Florida State. They're going to win back-to-back national titles."